Peach Patterns

Wink Designs "Madeline Dress" :: Pattern Update

After a bit of extra testing of the Wink Designs "Madeline Dress" pattern I've made a couple of minor changes to Steps 2, 3 & 5 of the instructions.  This is mainly to do with the sewing and application of the Collar:

1. I designed the dress with a very petite Peter Pan Collar in mind but have decided to increase the proportions slightly by specifying a slightly narrower seam.  I think this improves the look of the Collar and makes it much easier to sew.
2. I've also included a trick to make the Collar look neater by overlapping the edges within the seam allowance at the front where the two Collar pieces meet before pinning and sewing.  This will ensure that the finished Collar pieces meet properly on the finished dress and that there is no gap showing between them.

If you are a past purchaser of this pattern, click on the image and print or save the document to update your pattern.  All pattern purchases from now will have the changes incorporated in the document.

Also, the fabric yardage table in the very earliest version of the pattern specified an amount for the smaller sizes which was insufficient.  This will apply to only a very small number of customers who purchased the pattern in the first week of publication.  It has been corrected since then and I'm just including it here for completeness.

If you find an error in any Wink Designs pattern or even have a suggestion on how something could be done better please don't be shy - just drop me a line and let me know your thoughts. I'm truly commited to making the patterns as good as they can possibly be and your feedback is really important to that process....

Racerback Flare Dress

I spied this pattern by Califaye Collection on Etsy sometime back thinking the trendy racerback style would appeal to Cee Cee (and it did).

The fabric (from Spotlight) is a rayon in a bright aqua/orange zig-zag print.  It has an excellent drape but with the amount of fabric needed to make up the pattern, the finished dress is quite heavy.  If I made the dress again I'd probably go with a lighter, sheerer fabric.

Other ideas:

• Would reduce the size of the back opening to combat the gape there.

• The dress to my mind really needed some topstitching - around the armholes and neckline.

• The design is very flared and the Size 8 & 10 pattern pieces didn't seem to fit on a standard width 44" fabric so perhaps slightly reduce the width of the pattern pieces or make sure to use wider fabric.

• The hemline, being very curved, needs some consideration.  I'd recommend a narrow hem and used my favourite tutorial on Megan Nielsen's blog for a "rolled hem" using a regular sewing machine here. 

Other than those few hiccups, this is a very easy to make, cute (and twirly!) summer dress.

Perfect elastic waistbands

Sewing a casing and threading it with elastic is by far the most common and practical way of making waistbands (and wrist and ankle bands) on childrens' clothes.  Badly sewn casings with elastic that doesn't sit flat can, however, make your finished garments look a bit ho-hum and amateurish.

Try adding these extra (very simple) steps to sewing your waistbands to lift the look and add a whole lot of professional polish to your finished clothes.

Tip 1:

Sew a row of stitching around the top fold of the casing.  This adds extra stability to the casing, helps to flatten it out and generally looks more polished. 

Tip 2:

Sew a double casing.  Two is better than one!  Here, I've sewn two casings and inserted elastic of half an inch (12mm) width in each to make the waistband.  In total you'll have three rows of stitching.  The top row as described in Tip 1, a second row enclosing the top casing and a third row enclosing the bottom casing.

Sew the casings in the ususal way leaving a gap at the back of the garment for threading the elastic through.  Thread the top casing first, then adjust and sew it closed before threading the bottom casing and repeating the procedure.

Note that you'll get the best result by making the casings just a scant amount larger than the width of the elastic.  Too wide and you'll get a baggy look, too narrow and the elastic will pucker and you'll have trouble threading it through.

I used the same procedure on the ankles of these harem pants and you can see the finished look below:

And if you've ever been confused about the different types of elastic and what they're best used for check out this post:

E is for Elastic (The Sewing Directory blogspot).

I used Knitted Elastic in this project.  As you'll read it's not as heavy duty as the Woven variety but still has a lot of stability and a soft handle which is great when sewing childrens' clothes and when using sheerer fabrics like this voile (Valori Wells "Wish" from Hawthorne Threads).

Hope you'll have a go at these tips and let me know what you think!

How-To: Liberty Patchwork Strip Dress (adapted from "Simply Sweet" pattern)

A lovely customer, Denise, reminded me recently that I had long ago promised to post a tutorial on how I made this patchwork strip dress using a modified "Simply Sweet Tunic Top & Blouse" pattern.

I used a set of six remnant strips of Liberty to make the dress, each one in a different print and each remnant cut in half to cover the dress front and back.

Made with Liberty fabric, this dress is delightfully light and airy and a breeze to sew.  You can, of course, use any fabric to make the dress.  If you don't have that many different prints, two or three different prints (alternated along the width of the dress) would also work.

The pattern instructions are in numbered steps and I have used lettered steps here to distinguish the tutorial instructions from the original.  Grab your pattern and here we go:

• Follow pattern Steps 1-4 up to and including Step 4 to print and assemble your pattern. NOTE: in Step 4 you will not need to assemble the Sleeve pattern piece as the dress we are making here is sleeveless.

• Modify the pattern piece for the Front Yoke by rounding it off at the angle of the neckline as shown in Step A above.  If you are confident you can do this free-hand or, if not, use a plate or some other round household object to draw the curve.

• Add a 3/8" (1cm) seam to the neckline of the Front and Back Yokes as indicated by the red lines above. (This is because in the original pattern the raw edges at the neckline are encased by bias binding but in this version we are lining the Yokes and need the seam allowance to sew Yokes and Linings together.)

• Follow pattern Step 5 to cut the Yoke pieces from your fabric.  NOTE: however, that you will need an extra set of Front Yoke pieces and one extra Back Yoke piece for the Lining.

• You will also need enough bias binding to finish the armholes.  This is less than specified in the pattern because the neckline bias is omitted.

• You will not need to finish any raw edges of the Yokes or Linings at this stage.

Next, on to the Dress pieces:

You will need to cut two sets of six fabric strips for the Dress Front and Back.  I made the Size 5 and used strips measuring 4 1/2" wide by 21" long.  

A suggested guide to cutting appropriately sized strips for your chosen pattern size is to subtract 1/2" (1.25cm) from the width and 1 1/2" (4cm) from the length of the strips for every size below Size 5.  Alternatively for every size above Size 5, increase the strips by those amounts.

• Join your strips by sewing right sides together using a seam allowance of 3/8" (1cm) until you have a panel of six as shown in Step B above for the Dress Front. Repeat to make a second panel of six for the Dress Back. NOTE: I finished the long raw edges of the seams with an overlocker (serger).  If you do not have an overlocker you will need to zig-zag these edges neatly after sewing your seams.

• Press all seams and use your Top/Blouse pattern piece to trace and cut the armholes and side seams for each of your panels as shown in Step B above.  Continue the side seams from the bottom of the Top/Blouse piece to the bottom of the panel on each side.

• Finish the raw edges across the horizontal top of each panel (from armhole to armhole) and down the sides of each panel (from armhole to hem) with an overlocker (serger) or zig-zag stitch.  You will also need to sew a long basting stitch across the top of each panel (just under the edge) so you can gather the Dress pieces to fit the Yokes later on.

Set your panels aside for the next Steps C & D (which replace/modify Steps 6 & 7 in the pattern):

• Now sew your Front Yokes right sides together to Back Yoke at shoulders using a 1/2" (1.25cm) seam allowance.  Press and repeat with Lining pieces.

• Sew Yokes to Linings right sides together around the neckline as shown in Step C above using a 3/8" (1cm) seam allowance.

• Trim around this seam, flip the Yoke right side out and press around the neckline in preparation for finishing below:

• Toptstich around the neckline as shown in Step D above.

• Finish across the bottoms of the Front and Back Yokes and Linings using an over overlocker (serger) or zig-zag stitch.

• Overlap Front Yokes at the bottom edges by about 1/2" (1.25cm) and secure by basting together as show in Step D above.

To finish your Dress follow the remainder of the steps in the order of the dot points below (Use Steps 6, 7, 8 & 11 of the pattern to guide you on seam & hem allowances and bias binding techniques):

• Gather Dress panels and sew to bottoms of Front and Back Yokes.

• Sew side seams of Dress.

• Finish armholes with bias binding.

• Hem Dress.

As always, I'd love to know how you go with this one and to see pics of any finished dresses.  

Also, if you need any further detail or if any of the above is less than clear please let me know and I'll be happy to help!

"Madeline Dress" in Eiffel Tower fabric

The dress is finished, just needs some hemming.

Wow, when will this rain stop?  Washing piling up......kids a bit stir crazy.......

    

Have a great weekend.